Before any Home Health Care Agency is allowed to bill Medicare it must be Medicare Certified by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Medicare Accredited by one of 3 Accrediting Bodies medicareToday, the great majority of home health care agencies obtained Medicare Certification by undergoing Medicare Accreditation with one of the three major Medicare Accrediting Bodies: the Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP), The Joint Commission (“JTC”) (formerly known as the “Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations or “JCAHO”) or Accreditation Commission for Health Care, Inc (ACHC)

The first two steps in obtaining Medicare Accreditation are for a home health agency to submit a Medicare Application to its Fiscal Intermediary and to apply to an Accrediting Body to enroll in its Medicare Accreditation process.

It will take on average about three months for a Medicare Application to be accepted. During this time an agency will complete its patient enrollment, provide its Accrediting body with materials requested and prepare itself for the Medicare Accreditation Inspection. CHAP and ACHC each require that extensive questionnaires be completed, the Joint Commission does not. The CHAP questionnaire is referred to as a Self-Study and the ACHC questionnaire is called a Performance Evaluation Review or “PER.”

Prerequisites for a Medicare Accreditation survey include the completion of the aforementioned questionnaires, the receipt of an acknowledgment from the home health care agency’s Fiscal Intermediary stating that its Medicare Application has been accepted, a successful test transmittal to OASIS and the admission of ten skilled patients.

The ten patients that are admitted need not be Medicare eligible, but if they are, they must be homebound. One of the ten patients must have more than one discipline (e.g. skilled nursing, plus a therapy or home health aide services). Patients admitted may be discharged, but at least seven must be active when the Medicare Accreditation Survey occurs.

Medicare Accreditation Surveys will not occur until an agency notifies its Accrediting Body that it has met the prerequisites and is ready for the Medicare Accreditation Inspection.

All Medicare Accreditation Surveys will be unannounced and all will be of three day duration. During this time the agency office, its personnel files and it policies and procedures will be reviewed. The Accrediting Body surveyor will seek to determine that Agency staff members have a understanding of the policies and procedures. Each patient chart will be reviewed and five patients will be chosen for visits. The Accrediting Body surveyor will accompany the Agency’s RN to determine that proper nursing procedures are being followed.